My trip from HALL (Westerdam, Alaska, July 29)

[Alaskabound77]

I posted this on the HAL boards and they seemed to get a kick out of it. I cleaned it up a bit and am posting it for you here since several of you helped me out as well.

 

As many of you know, my family and I decided to do our very first cruise to Alaska on the Westerdam on July 29th. My family consists of myself (36), my husband (38), my almost four-year son, Tyler and my 8 month old daughter, Lila. My mom and dad (divorced but great friends) and my sister from Seattle joined us as well. This cruise was a gift from my mom to the family from my recently deceased grandmother’s estate. My sister does not like to travel in airplanes so we thought this would be a nice way to travel together. My sister did this exact cruise six years ago and loved it. My dad says, “well, she wanted to do a cruise again in the worst way, and she got exactly what she wanted.” This is a long review that I mostly wrote for my family so that we would remember our trip together. But I was thinking of all of you as I wrote it and hope that you enjoy my review. I am in no way writing this to trash HAL and take full responsibility for a lot of what went wrong.

Day 1 Denver to Seattle: We awoke early on Sunday morning to do the final packing (okay, the baby actually woke us up at 5:45 am) and pick up the house a little before we embark on the “trip of a lifetime.” Around 6:15 am, my husband decides that he could really use some Starbucks and heads out the door. I casually decide to check on the flight just to make sure that it is still scheduled to depart on time. I’m a little concerned because we were originally on an 8:00 am flight with American Airlines. But a few weeks ago we actually learn that we are not on an American Flight but an Alaskan Airline flight and that flight has been cancelled. We are now on a 10:30 am flight that will arrive in Seattle at 12:15 pm. I am really uncomfortable with this situation but have been assured that everything will be fine and Alaska Airlines gave me few options anyway since they cancelled a ton of flights recently (you might have even seen this in the news). I log on and nearly pass out when I see that our 10:30 flight has been delayed until 2:00 pm due to mechanical problems. As most rational people facing a similar situation would do, I immediately break down in tears as I desperately try to call Alaska Airlines to get this sorted out. After spending over an hour on hold and being assured that they would get us on a plane immediately, we are told that there are no seats available on any airlines and the best thing is to get our bodies to the airport as soon as possible. So we start throwing everything in our suitcases and call my parents and tell them to hit the road right away too. I do a quick weight check on the bags and we are over the 50 lb limit. Ahhhh – time to start pulling out clothes. But I think to myself, hey, we booked a suite with unlimited laundry. Therefore, even if the Westerdam is taking 48 hours to do laundry, we should be fine with three outfits each. Just fine! I also eye the large bag of Cheerios that I have packed for the baby as it’s the only solid food she is eating right now. Time to dump 90% of it out since I really only need some to entertain her on the plane as I have already confirmed that Cheerios will be available on the Westerdam. And we run out the door to the airport.

In an attempt to save time, we choose to park in the closest parking lot available which is going to cost a lot more, but will certainly pay off, right? We start unloading our luggage and I set up the sturdy umbrella stroller that has served us loyally for 3 years now. Tyler climbs into the stroller as I strap the baby onto my chest carrier and I notice that he is slowly sinking to the ground. The support bar on the stroller seems to have broken and the stroller is now useless. Well, it looks like he’s walking to the plane (and then walking for the next nine days, or so my DH thinks).

We finally get to the Alaska Airlines desk and face a daunting line of angry travelers. As we wait for nearly an hour in line, we continue to call on our cells to figure out other planes to board but everything is full. We finally get to the front and we are told that they can’t do anything and it’s best to just turn over our luggage, get on the 2:00 pm flight and hope for the best. It seems risky but what choice do we have now? (It turns out that we did have other choices as Southwest Airlines found a bunch of open seats at 11:00 am. If I was by myself, I probably would have just gone without luggage but with two young kids in tow, this did not seem like a wise choice.)

Now that we’ve unloaded our luggage, we can finally relax and then it dawns on us that it’s 8:30 and we aren’t even leaving until 2:00 pm. And thus begins a really long day at the airport. During this time, we call our travel agent and tell her the situation. We also call HAL and are told that they are aware of the situation and are monitoring the airline because there are an estimated 50 people in the same boat. HAL tells us that representatives are waiting for us on the ground at SEA/TAC and will help us get our luggage and get to the pier. We also call my sister and tell her to get on the boat immediately, find the captain and explain that we are due to land at 2:56 and to see if they can wait a few minutes for us. I also call American Airlines and give them an earful since they did not alert us of the change. They claim that Alaska should have notified us and Alaska claims that American had the responsibility. Great, thank guys for working together on this one.

We finally take off and fly to Seattle. Things are going well and we have landed ahead of schedule. But, unfortunately, the plane arrives at the wrong gate. This adds time but we are allowed to get off the plane ahead of other passengers and we start running to get our baggage. DH grab our bags while I run to find the HAL representatives. Sadly, even though we are standing with our luggage and it’s 3:35, we are informed that the gangplank has been lifted and the ship is departing. Yep – not even 4:00 but the Westerdam is sailing away with my poor sister all by herself. I, of course, proceed to cry again which is sort of freaking out my parents since they never really see me cry. But you would be crying too if you knew how much time I had invested in researching, planning, packing, and anticipating this trip. And it doesn’t help that Tyler is now crying “why did the cruise ship leave without us??? WHY???????????” over and over. And my sister is sobbing too as champagne toasts are shared by everyone who did get on the ship.

So we start to work with the HAL Airport Supervisor and we head up to the Alaska Airlines desk to sort this out. HAL keeps assuring me that this is no big deal and we’ll just board at the next port. That’s fine and all except that the next port is in Juneau on Day 4. They also tell me that the ship couldn’t wait because they have to be at Glacier Bay at 7:00 am on Tuesday. Well, it’s Sunday. Can’t the ship just go a little faster like I’ve read on cruisecritic? I know, crazy questions. HAL also suggests that we just turn around and go home since we have trip insurance. Alas, my poor sister is alone on the ship and I don’t know when this would really work out for everyone again.

Alaska wants to put us on a 7:30 pm flight to Juneau but I honestly don’t think that I can face another airplane ride tonight with the kids. They also offer to fly us to Gastineau where we could board with the ranger in Glacier Bay. HAL seems amused at our efforts but says no. So Alaska gets us $600 tickets to Juneau the next morning and all the HAL folks are acting like we should be really thankful because they are giving the tickets to us for free. Yes, thanks Alaska Airlines for your help! I’ll be sure to remember this the next time we fly Alaska Airlines. Oh, wait, I’ll never fly on your planes again. Next, HAL calls the SEA/TAC Quality Inn and books two rooms for our party. We are told that it’s “really nice and has a great pool.” Since we purchased trip insurance, the costs will be covered so just pay for it ourselves and keep the receipts. HAL also books us two rooms at the Baranof Hotel in Juneau and tells us that the rooms have gone on the HAL account (HAL actually owns the Baranof). We are given very clear instructions that on Day 4, we must be at the docking area at 6:00 am waiting for the ship to dock at 7:00 am. This seems early, but this is all new to me and I’m going to try not to screw up anymore.

We arrive at the Quality Inn and let me assure you that the nicest part about this hotel is the name. We go to check in and ask the front desk guy to find our reservations that HAL has made for us just a few minutes before. Nope, no reservations. We insist that HAL called about 30 minutes ago and we should have two rooms in our name. The guy assures us that no one has called the hotel but he does happen to have two extra rooms that we can have but there is no pool. He asks us, “are you distressed airline travelers?” Yes, yes we are!!! Surely, HAL called you on our behalf. He just laughs and says, “nah, they never really call. They just put you on a shuttle and hope we have rooms, and we usually do.” I think I know why…. But I’m sure I witnessed the HAL rep talking to someone at this hotel and someone at The Baranof. Didn’t I? If I had known that there wasn’t a reservation for us here anyway and that trip insurance is going to cover everything, I definitely would have picked a different hotel but it’s getting late now.

After we unpack a little, the front office guy tells us that there is a good diner “just around the corner.” We head out in 90 degree weather which is almost unheard of for Seattle and find that “just around the corner” is really about a half mile uphill in blistering heat and humidity. Everyone is suffering but mostly DH as he is now carrying Tyler. Dinner is decent and a few glasses of wine help take the sting out of the day. I basically eat my dinner in stunned silence and can’t believe that I’m eating in a crappy diner instead of on the Westerdam. I have clearly entered the first phase of grief: denial. When we get back to the hotel Tyler proclaims that “this is the best vacation EVER!!” as he jumps from bed to bed. That helps a little.

DH claims that he awakes several times that night and hears me sobbing in the other bed with the baby. I don’t remember crying as much as plotting my revenge on the Westerdam. I have now entered the anger phase of grief.

[Alaskabound77]

Day 2 Seattle to Juneau: So we are now rested and ready to continue our adventure to Juneau. I am very fortunate in that my best friend from elementary through high school actually lives in Juneau with her family that includes her 3 year-old son. We had planned to spend all of Day 4: Juneau with them anyway but now they have rearranged their schedules and will be waiting for us at the Juneau airport. Talk about great people!

 

The shuttle bus comes to pick us up and as we load up the shuttle with our luggage, the driver goes inside for something. This triggers Tyler to start crying that “the bus driver left us – just like the cruise ship!!!!!! Why WHY????????” Uggg, it appears that he has now developed abandonment issues. Note to self: if you get any money from the trip insurance, spend it on some therapy for the boy.

 

We have another great flight with the kids (and by great, I mean great for all the other passengers as it is a ton of work to keep a baby quiet and a four year old from kicking the seat in front of him). But I’m running low on Cheerios and need to hunt some down soon. Lisa meets us at the airport and secures a taxi van for us to the Baranof in downtown Juneau. We arrive at the hotel, give them our confirmation number and our names, and we just get a blank look. Nope, no names, no confirmation numbers, no reservations. But I’m really sure that I witnessed the HAL representative in Seattle make these reservations and I’m holding her business card with the confirmation number written down. Again, no one called the hotel and now I’m starting to get less amused with these antics.

 

Lucky for me, and not so lucky for HAL, the HAL Juneau office is actually located right in this hotel. And there is a poor woman who is going to catch my wrath. Let’s just say that within 10 minutes our rooms have been paid for by HAL and we are unpacking our bags in our rooms. A shuttle is also arranged to pick us up at 7:00 am to board the ship. I explain that I was given very specific instructions to be out at the dock area at 6:00 am and everyone pretty much just laughs at me. I thought it seemed silly too but I’m trying to do as I am told. And now I’m told that a bus will come get us at 7:00.

 

Lisa and her son, Kyle, show up and we head down to the Mount Roberts Tramway. We enjoy some time up there and then decide to get dinner at the top since the line to get back down is approaching 1.5 hours (there are 5 ships docked in Juneau today). We have been advised that our trip insurance will pay for up to $150/per day/per person for meals and taxis, so it’s time to start spending as we’ve got $900/per day for our group. Lisa explains that the downtown area that cruisers see is actually pretty fake. All the buildings are owned by the cruise lines and they lease out the space to the diamond and fur stores (and why anyone wants to buy diamonds and furs on a cruise is beyond me). After the last ship leaves for the season, all the stores are boarded up and closed down until the next cruise season begins. Now I am much less interested in shopping around here since it’s not really Juneau.

 

We return to the hotel and enjoy some drinks which is also fun. At this time, I remember that the Westerdam will be in Glacier Bay tomorrow and that is why I booked Suite 8140 with the beautiful wrap around balcony. So I call HAL and tell them that I want them to give my sister access to my room so that she can enjoy the balcony for the day. They tell me that this is a great idea and for her just to go to the front desk and get a key. Fantastic – I paid a lot for this room and someone should be enjoying it!

[Alaskabound77]

Day 3: Juneau So today we can just relax in Juneau and spend some time with Lisa, Kyle, and her DH. We enjoy a really good breakfast at the Capital Grille that is located inside the hotel and they automatically charge it to our room. Then we head out to Glacier Gardens via a taxi. Glacier Gardens is beautiful but the taxi costs us $30. I’m starting to wonder if trip insurance really is going to work for us and we decide that my family will take a public bus back to town while Lisa takes my mom and dad back in her car. They will also swing by the grocery store to pick up some baby wipes, Cheerios, and jars of baby food, and then will drive by Mendenhall Glacier (we saw a ton of glaciers on our trip through Alaska a few years ago and the kids are getting tired). I can tell that Lisa is less than enthused that we want to take the public bus back considering that the trip insurance will pay for our taxis, but we are experienced travelers and want to experience a little slice of real Juneau life. Well, that was a mistake. The bus shows up 25 minutes late and is packed. The bus driver seems intent on seeing how fast he can accelerate (surprising fast considering there is an alarm going off and I’m pretty sure it’s the “over the weight limit” alarm) and we just keep picking up more and more people. There is a sign on the bus with the “10 Rules of Riding the Bus” and Rule #3 is Be Reasonably Clean. That sounds reasonable enough but I feel that there are many who are in blatant violation of the rule on this bus now. There are moms getting on with four, five, seven young children at times. The bus is so packed that we can’t really even see where we should get off. Tyler falls asleep on my DH and we finally just decide to get hell off this bus. Unfortunately, we get off five blocks away from the hotel and DH carries a sleeping Tyler all the way back to the hotel. As we arrive, we run into my parents who are returning from the grocery store, the glacier, and a great lunch at the Zepher – all while we tried to save $20 that would have been reimbursed anyway (maybe). And no Cheerios.

 

Everyone relaxes for a while and then we meet up one more time with everyone for dinner at the Hangar on the Wharf. The kids have a great time and we eagerly watch the cruise lines departing for the evening knowing that our Westerdam is coming in tomorrow to pick us up. My sister calls from the boat and tells me that she was not allowed into our suite due to “security” issues.

[Alaskabound77]

Day 4: Juneau….still. We get up at 6:00 and start preparing to get on our shuttle to the Westerdam at 7:00 am sharp. I realize that we have only one more day of clean clothes left and I’m really hoping that Tyler doesn’t have to wear his tuxedo around the ship during the day. No need to eat breakfast because we will be dining on the ship! Finally!! We got to check out and sure enough, everything is covered by HAL. Darn – if I had known they were going to pick up the restaurant charge too, we would have eaten at the Gold Room which is considered to be the best restaurant in Jueanu.

The shuttle actually arrives at 7:00 and we are at the pier at 7:10 am. We tell them who we are and no one seems to have any idea that there are people trying to board the ship in Juneau. In fact, it just seems like mass confusion so we just head up the gangplank and hope to find someone on the ship that knows something. I am now seriously thankful that we did not arrive here at 6:00 am! We struggle a little to actually board the ship but we do get on and make our way to the front desk. We explain who we are and what happened but no one there seems to really understand any of this either. But eventually, we get our key cards and head to our room.

We are excited to see our room but when we arrive the room steward is there cleaning it up. Huh – why is he cleaning it up since we haven’t been here yet? So I ask and I am told that the Inspector has been using our room since we weren’t there. Ah, I am now starting to better understand HAL’s “security issue” with my sister using our suite for Glacier Bay. We also notice that the beds are made into two twins when I had requested one king bed. I tell the steward that and he says that he received specific instructions that we needed two beds. Well, those instructions, shockingly, were wrong but he said he would fix the problem. My parents arrive at this point to tell us that they cannot use their room either. When they opened their door, they found the Comedian sleeping soundly in their queen bed (which was supposed to be two twins). But now Tyler is crying that he’s thirsty and hungry so I run off to the Neptune Lounge to get him some juice and something to eat. As soon as I walk in the concierge asks, “Mrs. Min?” Yes, that’s me. I’m dazzled by his ability to know my name face unseen but then I figure his deduction skills are honed since I’m the only suite guest who hasn’t bothered to show up there for three days. Since we can’t use our rooms for a while we decide to head to the Dining Room for some breakfast. On the way, DH stops by the Neptune Lounge to get some coffee, but the machine is broken and will remain that way for the duration of our cruise.

The Dining Room breakfast is pretty disappointing overall. I am somewhat shocked that the scrambled eggs served are powdered eggs. Yuck. I definitely recognize the consistency since this is what you get when you buy the Nutrisystem food. And it seems as if the boat is rocking, but wait, we are docked in Juneau still so how could that be? I look over and there is DH sawing through his eggs benedict which is causing the whole table to move. He is not impressed. I see that Cheerios are on the menu and attempt to get some for Lila but am informed that there are no Cheerios available and they bring me Fruit Loops instead. While I love Fruit Loops myself, it’s not going to work with a baby. And so the hunt for the elusive Cheerios continues.

After breakfast, we decide to go back to our room and enjoy the balcony while trying out room service. I call room service and order a plate of chocolate covered strawberries. The guy says, “there is a charge for these strawberries.” “Yes, I know, 6 strawberries for $9. That’s fine.” “When would you like these to be delivered?” “Well, as soon as possible.” So we wait for an hour and half and no strawberries. While we wait, I pull together our dirty clothes and the room steward helps me get a bag and get them to laundry. He even writes “Express” on the ticket and I want to kiss him for his kindness. Then I call back and ask where are the strawberries and he says, “Oh, we did not deliver them because there is a charge for them.” “Yes, I know that and we discussed this.” “So do you still want them?” “Well, actually, can I just cancel the order since we now want to explore the ship?” “Absolutely!” Okay, well, we’ll try that tomorrow but now let’s go explore since the ship is basically dead as Juneau is the first port on this cruise. We are just about ready to leave the room when the phone rings. “Ma’am, your strawberries are on their way.” “I thought we cancelled the order?” “They will be right there.” So I wait around for 15 more minutes and then give up and we all head out. The strawberries do arrive later and we were not charged so I guess that’s a plus.

Now my sister has joined us and she has brought us a bottle of champagne with a special note to Tyler to enjoy this gift from HAL. I thought HAL was supposed to have some elaborate system in place where they know who is a minor and then will not serve them alcohol. I’ll take one for the team and unload this bottle for him. I do love champagne.

We spend some time exploring the ship with the whole family and I notice that the roof is covering the Lido Pool and it seems like a great afternoon to swim with Tyler later. I also notice on the Daily Schedule that there is a Kids Culinary class called “S’mores” going on today. Great! Tyler will LOVE that as he loves cooking and he loves anything sweet. So we head to the Culinary Arts Center and we are informed that no one showed up so the class was cancelled. Don’t we count?

At this point, I decide that I really need to talk to someone in Guest Relations and discuss how this cruise is going for us. I drop off the baby with DH and head to the front desk with Tyler where I am able to sit down with Andrea. Andrea tells Tyler that she is from Romania where they have Dracula and vampires that bite your neck and suck your blood. As Tyler grips my arm in fear, I’m thinking that she probably doesn’t have young kids herself.

She listens to me and is very sympathetic. She also explains that since we did not board the ship on time, she has the authority to use our rooms as she sees fit. Well, that makes sense but I’m pretty certain that I shouldn’t still be paying for the room. I mean, it’s sort of like a parking spot. If I’ve rented it for the month, I can choose to use it when I want to or to not use it at all – but the space should be there for my use since I have paid for it. Andrea explains that things work differently on the sea as compared to land. Oh, Andrea, trust me, I am learning that very quickly. I also tell Andrea that we will not be paying for the auto-tip for the three days we missed. And if the reason that the ship could not wait for us is because it would cost too much in fuel to make the boat go faster, we will not be paying the $5/day fuel surcharge for those days either. She says she’ll look into the fuel charge thing but that it has not been done before. I tell her that before we check out, if they have charged me for the fuel charge, I will deduct it from the auto-tip and that doesn’t seem fair at all since the crew should not be punished for HAL’s policy. I have moved into the bargaining stage of grief. But Andrea is nice and polite and I appreciate her help.

Now it’s lunchtime to we head off to the Lido for a casual lunch. The food was decent. Nothing to rave about and certainly challenging with a baby trying to grab everything in my hands. We wrap up and I decide to take Tyler swimming. We get all ready in our room and head to the pool but now they have decided to retract the roof. It’s a nice day, by Alaskan standards, but not really that great for being in wet bathing suits and we are the only ones around. But we make the best of it and I am very thankful that children are allowed in the hot tubs since the pool is pretty chilly (and so is the air).

The afternoon is spent going to the spa (very nice but I don’t need to have people point out that I have some varicose veins on my legs and that they can sell me some cream to fix them – unless the cream actually would fix them and we all know that is not true). Before dinner, I run to the Neptune Lounge to get orange juice for mimosas so that we can get started on these bottles of champagne. My dad and sister have also lugged six bottles of wine on board so we really need to make some headway in the drinking department. Then it’s dinner time which is nice too. The food is better than breakfast and lunch and my sister is so excited to no longer be dining at a table for seven by herself. Our dining stewards are wonderful and great with the kids. The wine steward is not so great as it takes about 20 minutes to get Tyler a lemonade and some glasses of wine.

After completely stuffing ourselves, we head to our rooms where our clean laundry is waiting for us. Again, thank you laundry people and room steward. My sister and DH decide to try the “Shaken, Not Stirred: A Martini Event” in the Ocean Bar at 9:30 per the Daily Schedule. They show up at 9:30 and no one is there save the bartender. “We are here for the Martini Event.” “Well, here is the martini menu.” “Oh, isn’t there a class, or a talk, or a demonstration, or…. something?” “No, just the martini menu.” Huh. Well, then why was it on the Daily Schedule? So they order a few martinis and drink them…sort of like they could have done at any of the bars at any time. Again, par for the course it seems, but tomorrow is new day and things surely will improve!

One more note and I know this sounds unbelievable, but one of the aft elevators refuses to stop on Floor 8. It is, in a word, maddening. And it seems like I get in this elevator about 75% of the time - much higher than one would normally given the randomness of four elevators.

I have learned about this elevator during my trips to the Neptune Lounge to get snacks for Tyler to bring back to the room (which I do by stealing a room service tray from someone on the 8th floor - which is totally embarrassing when they open the door and see you on your knees trying to empty their tray and you explain that you are actually headed to a Lounge that they are not good enough to access and to kindly remove their foot from my finger so that I can continue on my way). Then I proceed to get stuck in this elevator with my tray of food and juice and can’t get off at my floor.

[Alaskabound77]

Day 5: Sitka We wake up to a cold and rainy day in Sitka which seems like perfect weather for the 1:00 pm Wildlife and Sea Otter Quest excursion we have booked.

We decide to try the Lido for breakfast. Again, it’s okay but nothing special. I am finding that a lot of the food doesn’t seem to have that much taste to it which is pretty disappointing because I seem to be eating a lot.

We return to our room and Andrea calls and says that they are trying to arrange a dinner for us at the PG to apologize for all the things that seem to be going wrong. I thank her for her thoughts but explain that I think that the kids are really not going to be able to do the PG very well and I don’t want to bother any other guests. She says she will continue to think of something and will get back to me. I also tell her that both our shower and bathtub are not really draining at all. If there is one thing that really makes me crazy, it’s having to stand in dirty shower water with long hairs getting stuck in my toes. She tells me that they will send someone to fix it while we go on our excursion.

It’s now time excursion time. The tickets say on them that we should tender into Sitka. I’m skeptical because I remember reading on cruisecritic that for the Wildlife Quest, you tender directly onto the boat. While I should trust what my tickets say, I’m starting to question just about everything on this cruise. So I head to the Shore Excursions desk and ask where we should be. The nice woman there confirms that we will tender directly onto the excursion boat and that we should be ready at 12:45. But my mom is insisting that we follow the directions on the tickets so I find someone else that confirms that we should tender into Sitka. So we do – which makes sense as this is the last Quest of the day and ends at 4:00 pm. We depart on Deck A and notice that when they scan our room cards, you can see our photos on the computer. My card is first and the picture they have of me is completely blurry and I look like a moving ghost. DH’s picture is simply of his right eye. Lila’s picture is perfect and there is no picture at all of Tyler. Ha ha ha – we all laugh about the pictures and the tight security.

The Wildlife Quest was absolutely great. We got to see three bald eagles (which was fun for everyone but since we spent some time in Alaska a few years ago, we know that they are basically a dime a dozen and are sort of nasty, loud, smelly birds). We also see a ton of sea otters, a mother bear and her cubs drinking water on the shore (very cool), and we follow some whales for about thirty minutes. Of course, Tyler sleeps through the entire thing. I spend some time talking to the women next to us and we get to the topic of tipping. They say that they are going to tip a few bucks each to the crew for this excursion. We also discuss the auto-tip of $10 a day. One of the women is completely unaware of it and is not happy. The other one just laughs and says, “I never pay that!” We are a group of seven, so we put $40 in the tip jar. During this excursion, we meet a really nice couple from Denver who is bi-racial (DH is China and DW is white – similar to us). Their kids are gorgeous and my moms spends a lot of time chatting with the DW.

We tender back onto the ship and enjoy a nice dinner with the family. Again, the dining stewards are great but the head one seems a little annoyed with us that we show up at 6:05 pm for a 6:00 seating. He says, “didn’t anyone tell you?” “Tell us what?” “That the dinner schedule has been changed to 5:45 pm.” “Oh, no, no one said anything. Sorry!“ I feel bad that he’s stressed out now but we had no idea that the dining time has changed for the remainder of the cruise. The wine steward is slow again but we feel fine since we tried again to make a dent in the alcohol before dinner. In the evening, I take Tyler to see the Illusionist which was okay. He was more comedy than anything else and is funnier than the Comedian. The Comedian’s funniest joke was about him having to sleep in the galley. It’s only funny to us because we know that he was actually sleeping in my parent’s bed. But Tyler is tired and doesn’t get the jokes so we leave after about 20 minutes and head to the Crow’s Nest while everyone else enjoys the show. Tyler and I spend some time on the great reclining chairs. It’s fine there because there are probably no more than five people there and 2 of them are crew. The Crow’s Nest is a really beautiful location. I don’t know what was there before, but I love the chairs, the library, the Explorations Café, etc. Well done, HAL. And I will also share with you that the Exploration’s Café guy from the Philippines is engaged to the Club HAL woman – how cute is that?? We get home and are thankful that the shower now drains. And thus concludes another day.

[Alaskabound77]

Day 6: Ketchican We have no plans for today and I am hoping to be in better alignment with the universe.

Now I’m starting to get wise about breakfast and I decide that it’s time to take advantage of the Pinnacle Grill. I’m not entirely sure about the time so I call the Neptune Lounge to inquire. I am told that the PG is only open for lunch and dinner. But I argue back and tell the person on the phone that I’m pretty sure it’s open for breakfast for suite customers. Please hold. After a long wait, the person returns and seems quite surprised that I am correct. So we head to the PG and find that there is only one other couple eating and they seat us right next to them. They turn out to be a lovely couple that loves to cruise and they seem to not be too annoyed with our kids. We order the chocolate chip pancakes and the Alaskan Eggs Benedict (with salmon) off of the specialty menu and I stick with a frittata. The service is slow and eventually we receive plain pancakes and a plain eggs benedict. After sawing through this one, DH is too tired to complain that both orders were wrong. And they have no Cheerios. I thought I read that one should tip cash at the PG table when doing breakfast but I notice that the other couple did not leave a tip. And I sort of feel like they didn’t deserve that much of a tip since 2/3 of the items ordered were incorrect.

As we approach our room, one of the room stewards pulls me aside and asks why we got on the boat so late. He is not my room steward and I tell him what happened and that I am working with Andrea. He says that I must get to Amber Coomer and tell her everything. Okay, I can do that! But first, I really do need to find some Cheerios and some baby formula. (more than you ever wanted to know, but I am nursing the baby and packed just a little bit of formula for emergencies. But I think the stress of the first three days has caused my supply to dwindle and the baby is sucking down this formula at a dramatic pace and I must get my hands on more formula, and Cheerios, dammit, Cheerios!). We head into Ketchican and find a drugstore and I pay an outrageous amount for a little tiny bit of already prepared formula. No Cheerios. Again. I’m not all that interested in exploring Ketchican since it looks basically like the fake part of Juneau that we just left.

We get back on the ship and I leave the family to go find Amber with whom I have an appointment. She is a wonderful woman who listens to all my woes and is having a hard time believing some of my stories. She asks if we like spa treatments and alcohol and I assure her that we do. She promises to try and make the last two days better which is so nice to hear. Later that afternoon, a bottle of champagne, a bottle of white, and a bottle of red wine appear in each of our three cabins. I also have a message from the Greenhouse Spa that they have four massages for our group to use and to call and book them. Did I tell you that Amber is GREAT and an asset to the HAL and the Westerdam??? I will be contacting the head honchos at HAL to let them know about Amber Coomer. I am definitely starting to feel better about our cruise. But I might also be feeling better due to the copious amounts of wine that are now flowing in our suite. And we are facing an interesting situation where we are looking at around 12 bottles of champagne and wine and have only two nights to drink them. So you say, hey, make some friends and invite them over for drinks on your balcony. And this is when I tell you that the Women of Faith conference is on this ship taking up 900 spots. They are not a drinking crowd (and not a tipping crowd either, according to many of the crew on the ship).

As I leave after my meeting with Amber, I see my mom filling out some paper work at the Front Desk. I ask her what’s she doing and she says she’s getting her 25 Day Pin from HAL. I just roll my eyes and later learn that HAL has sent my mom an invitation to the Mariner’s Toast (and they have excluded my dad who is the real Mariner here). My mom hasn't been on a cruise ship to save her life but decides that she will indeed be attending if she can get a free glass of wine. So she and my sister go the event and then she proceeds to ask questions like, "So what does HAL stand for anyway?" and "How do I get off this silly ship?" Of course, it was clear to all that she has never been on a ship before and my sister is forced to sneak to the corner of the room in total embarrassment.

Today is also the day of the July 4th BBQ on the Lido Deck. This is a very nice event and DH says the salmon is the best food he’s had on the ship yet. As we are eating, we hear a woman comment that “I’ve been on tons of cruises and this is the worst one I’ve ever been on!” We start listening in and she mentions a few things along with the fact that a light keeps flickering in her room. It seems trivial to me but at least I’m not the only one who feels like this isn’t working out as expected. I hold myself back from saying to her, "I see your blinking light and raise you my urine-drenched bathroom."

That afternoon, we decide that it will be fun to try the appetizer plate available to suite guests before dinner (you know, because it’s been 30 minutes since the last time I ate anything). The food arrives on time but is sort of disappointing. There are three items: fried sausage things, fried chicken nuggets, and fried seafood of some kind. But it’s not really seafood. It’s chicken, for sure. The food is okay but not worth ordering again since Tyler eats the same chicken nuggets for dinner each night. But the sauce is pretty dam good.

DH tells me that invitations have arrived for us to have cocktails with the captain. I look at the invitation and it is addressed to Lila and DH. Well, where is mine? Ah, here it is and it’s addressed to me and Allen Bromley. I don’t have any idea who Allen Bromley is but I suspect that it’s the Inspector and I can tell you that he did not get his invitation. We are going to skip the event as I don’t have much to say to the captain. Well, I have a lot to say but it’s probably not appropriate. I’ve now moved into the another stage of loss which I believe is finding someone else to blame. I’ll probably stay in this stage for a while.

Then it’s time to get ready for our first (and last) formal night. Tyler is wearing his full-on tuxedo that his grandparents brought back for him from South Korea. Lila is in an adorable velvet dress. Everyone else looks great too. Dinner is very nice tonight and we have fun. It’s always interesting to see how people interpret “formal.” While I was thinking I was going to hate it, I actually liked the whole Baked Alaska parade thing. In fact, I even liked the Baked Alaska dessert which might tell you something about the rest of the food we have eaten. The best part is that the assistant dining steward asked if he could take Lila onto the stairs and dance around with her. Are you kidding me??? Free babysitting for a few minutes?? Hell YES! I peek around to see her and she’s just smiling and laughing in his arms which is wonderful for everyone. Many people comment the next day about how cute she was on the stairs. This is after they ask if her name is Lila and we are the ones who missed the ship. Did I mention that my mom is telling anyone who will listen to her about our adventure?

It’s now 8:00. The front desk has called and we have a babysitter from 9:30 to 11:30 scheduled. So we have 1.5 hours to get these kids to sleep because I just want the babysitter to be able to watch TV quietly. I decided to try to lull the baby to sleep by walking around the ship with her in my chest carrier. Yet I cannot do that in heels and my formal dress so I dress down and take my chances at offending anyone. As I had suspected, the nightlife if pretty much dead with half of the ship eating dinner and other half not in the bars. I don’t think anyone notices that I’m not in formal wear and I really don’t even care anymore. I mean, they did get to enjoy three nights without me in the beginning. I return to the room and at 9:27, both of them are asleep (and we are exhausted). The babysitter arrives exactly on time and she is a lovely young woman who works at the front desk. She assures me that everything will be fine and we go outside to show her how to work the walkie talkies in case the kids wake up. Even though they were fully charged two days ago and have been turned off since then, the batteries are dead. Not to worry, she says, if the children wake up she will just call the front desk, they will pull up photos on the computer and they will send someone out to find us. Uhhhhh……..hold on. Unless you ask everyone to cover up everything but their right eye or to try to look like a blurry ghost, there is no way that anyone will find us based on those ship photos. Suddenly, the photos aren’t so funny anymore. So our solution is that I promise her that I will be in the Ocean Bar and will not leave there in case anything happens.

We head off to the Ocean Bar with my sister and dad and have some great drinks. My sister has become quite close with the Ocean Bar staff and I suspect she spent her three days alone drinking here. In fact, they all call it “Teresa’s Bar.” But that might also be because it is completely dead and she’s been the only patron there for days now – thanks, Women of Faith. There is a storm brewing now and the boat is starting to rock and roll quite a bit. It’s probably inevitable that when you are in a storm, at night, on a cruise ship, one begins to think about the Titanic and about how much that night must have really sucked. It also dawns on me that we have not participated in the safely drill and I have no clue as to where my lifeboat is located or how to put on the lifejackets. Then my family starts to tease me about the babysitter throwing the kids over the wrap around balcony and I start to freak out a bit. I run to the room to check on things by listening through the door and it seems that all is well. So we enjoy a few more drinks and then DH offers to go back and pay the sitter and let me sit with my family for a while longer. I tell him to tip the sitter well if both kids are indeed in their beds and alive. I spend some more time with my dad and sister and we win a little bit of money in the casino. I come home around midnight and DH informs me that the baby woke up two minutes after the sitter left and screamed for some time. I also thank him for not throwing her off the balcony.

I must also comment on here on my inability to know where I am on this ship. I have a really keen sense of direction when on land and I am spending the whole time completely disoriented. I finally decide to establish a rule with myself that if I am walking confidently in any direction, I must stop turn around, and head back the other way. It actually works for me! There were even a few times when I would stop, look at the window, go through the thought process of where the front of the ship must be located based on the water moving outside, and then happily walk to the bow when I was just trying to go back to my cabin. It's embarrassing. Yes, I know, there are maps outside every elevator, but I shouldn't need to rely on those! Instead I rely on the door numbers. 8012, 8010, dammit, turn around and try again to get to 8140.

[Alaskabound77]

Day 7: Victoria This has been bothering me for a few days now but the stench of urine in our bathroom is becoming overwhelming. I’m not sure how to handle it because the stench is clearly of old urine – the kind you smell on subways in the summer. It’s really nasty but I don’t want to complain because I’m afraid that it will get the room steward in trouble and it’s clearly not a cleaning issue. And, really, I’m getting tired of complaining at this point. I figure I can live with it for another 24 hours, but I really think that suites should not smell of urine. Is that asking too much? DH decides to take a long, hot bath and says it was wonderful when he submerged his entire body under the water except for his nose. But then the smell overtook him and he had to get some fresh air. Tyler doesn’t like to go into the “stinky” bathroom at all.

I check on the formula and realize that, just as I had been warned on cruisecritic, the minibar doesn’t really keep anything cold. I knew I was forgetting to put something in the ice bucket when I got home. Darn those fantastic pina coladas! Hmmmm – it smells okay and we won’t be in Victoria until tonight so I’ll try it. She takes it down happily and we head to the Lido for breakfast. As I try to fill my tray I notice that DH is laughing at me. I look down and Lila has promptly vomited curdled formula all over my last, clean, black shirt. Well, I guess the formula is getting thrown away and I’m eating breakfast with vomit on my shirt.

After breakfast, I stop by the front desk to thank Amber for all she has done for us. I see the young woman who babysat for us and she gives me a very enthusiastic smile and wave. I later asked DH how much he paid her and he said he gave her a $50 for two hours. Pretty good money for sleeping kids but worth every penny since she didn’t throw them off the balcony.

Today is our day to get our massages. It’s also the day of the time change and everyone is pretty confused about what time it is. I am able to locate clocks with different times all over the ship but we decide to peg ourselves to the spa clocks since we have appointments. My mom and sister enjoy their massages. Mine is good too save another lecture on varicose veins and creams to make them disappear (and in my defense, I just had a second kid and they aren’t that bad). DH also gets one but he is not as lucky as we are and ends up buying a very small $52 bottle of some cooling cream that you put on your chest to open your lungs. It smells exactly like Vick’s Vapor Rub.

We have a nice dinner in the Dining Room and manage to pull together $100 for the head waiter, $100 for the assistant waiter and $60 for the wine steward, who never really improved that much. I think it’s decent for them considering we missed three of the seven nights. And we think that the wine steward already gets a 15% gratuity but I can’t completely confirm that it works that way. Again, it certainly wasn’t their fault we weren’t there and I’m feeling badly about the Women of Faith non-tippers. And speaking of, I would LOVE to be able to see how the whole auto-tipping thing works on HAL’s books. I am very curious to see how the general ledger codes are mapped and wonder if it just goes straight to payroll (thus, taxable) but that is a whole different thread. I also gave our room steward $50 and each of the Neptune Lounge guys $20 each (even though I really didn’t use them at all).

We have scheduled a carriage ride in Victoria at 7:15 with Tally-Ho for the evening. The guy at Tally-Ho told us that it’s a quick walk from the ship to their location outside the wax museum but that we should have a stroller for the kids. Fortunately, we are running late and we decide we better get in line for a taxi.

As we are waiting in the taxi line, we see the ship diamond guy (I have no idea what his title is) Lance, try to jump the line and get into a taxi with his boyfriend. The taxi guy pulls him out and tells him to go to the back of the line. Lance throws a hissy fit and storms off. It was entertaining. He definitely knew better.

This is simply not a quick walk from the port and it’s about 10 minutes in a cab. I mean, you could walk it but why would you? But we get there right on time and the guy says he is amazed that we had a reservation and managed to actually show up on time. He says that almost never happens. And, seriously, no one is more amazed than me that this is working out at all either.

We do the one-hour tour around Victoria, which is a lovely city. But it’s sort of cramped in the carriage and it’s actually getting really cold and we consider offering her another $20 to just take us to the port and let us get off. She insists that we must see downtown so we suffer along with both kids napping on our chests and everyone freezing. And the driver is talking endlessly about taking care of horses and not really noticing that no one cares and we would really just rather talk to each other.

[Alaskabound77]

Day 8: Disembarking or Time to get off this dam ship! Ah, I have survived to the end of our cruise. Only a few more hurdles. It’s 6:45 am and we are all sleeping soundly in one big bed together – which is so nice – and let me also say that the bed is awesome and I would seriously consider buying a HAL mattress for our home. Suddenly someone is knocking at the door. It’s our breakfast from Room Service that is supposed to arrive at 8:15. Well, of course it is! We also ordered for my mom, dad and sister so now I have to call and wake them up and tell them to get down here. The order is perfect, early but perfect. While everyone finishes up, I decide to go check out the scene at disembarkment and make sure I understand exactly what we are supposed to do. I watch for a few minutes and it seems to be going very smoothly so I return to our room and we wait until 9:45 when it is our turn to leave.

Sadly, we find ourselves with nine bottles of alcohol that no one really wants to drag home again. I am seriously disappointed with everyone for drinking so little. Hangovers, dehydrated?? Blah blah blah. I ask the room steward if he can take the bottles to enjoy with his friends. He tells me that he and his friends to not drink but that he can get them to the mini-bar attendant. Heck no, I’m not returning these to the ship! So we split up the bottles and everyone crams them into their suitcases.

There is no one in line and we approach to scan our cards one last time and the guy scanning the cards gets upset that there is no picture of Tyler and he wants to know why. Now the lack of photos is really not funny at all. Come on now, this is YOUR system, not mine. And I’m pretty sure that you are the same guy who not only took the photos but who has scanned our cards everytime we got off and back on this ship. And, frankly, at this point, if you want to detain the child for 24 hours, I’m pretty open to that solution as I desperately need a break from these kids. But he shrugs his shoulders and tells us to go ahead and leave the ship.

Next it’s off to Thrifty where it takes no shorter than two hours to rent a car that was reserved months ago. And we are given an SUV even though that is the last thing we want or need (guess everyone else felt the same way since the lot is close to empty). We drive off to Issaquah for a beautiful wedding that evening and stay at a very nice Hilton Garden Hotel. We awake in the morning and I see tons of little yellow boxes of Cheerios in the dining room. The breakfast waitress tells me to just take a few for free. Finally, I am aligning with the universe again!

It’s now time to drop off the rental SUV and DH leaves the payment to me while he deals with the luggage. We just put in $8 of gas to replace what we have used. I sign the receipt for $200 even though my confirmation says it will be $110. At this point, I’m so tired and just want to get home so I just pay it. But while we are standing in line waiting for the airport shuttle, I look at the receipt and notice that they are charging us $90 for 476 miles. But isn’t Issaquah just 18 miles away based on my googlemaps? I tell DH and he says that we went 50 total miles and we have 150 miles free. I march back in and they just shrug and credit back the difference. We have an uneventful ride home and both children sleep the entire flight which is heaven. Everything is going smoothly until we reach the car. Why is the window down where the baby sits? Could I have really been so frantic that first morning that I didn’t roll up a window? No, it’s just that the regulator part that keeps the window closed has broken and now the window won’t go up again. Poor Lila has to ride all the way home with the wind blowing in her face. At home, I tape up a black plastic bag over the window so that I can get to work tomorrow and get it fixed. Who knew how noisy a black plastic bag can be when hurtling 60 mph down a highway? Lila screams all the way to work then screams some more when I drop her off at daycare. It costs $100 to bolt the window in place and the vacation is finally over.

Highlights of the vacation: The Wildlife Quest was fantastic. The staff on the ship was wonderful. The bed was amazing. Juneau was great. Lisa and her family were marvelous. And thank god for trip insurance!!! Although I’ve been working with Alaska and American and neither of them want to admit that we were on any of the planes – this will probably take several months to sort out. All in all, we had a lot of laughs together as a family (and some tears). I am left with some really funny stories to share with my family for years to come. And isn’t that what we are all really looking for anyway?

Some low points: The food was pretty mediocre and I’m no foodie. Of course, this did not stop me from stuffing my face most of the time. My sister did share with me that she ordered French Onion soup one night from room service and it was delivered with both the cheese and the bread missing. That is really more Oily Onion soup. She also had to send back a steak one night before we arrived because it was just really inedible. That says a lot as she always jokes that if it moves, she’s going to eat it. She feels strongly that the food was far superior on her cruise six years ago.

I also had a hard time feeling comfortable around the crew. We spent some time talking to one of the bartenders and he shared with us that most the staff earn around $1000/mo plus tips. Of course, they get room, board and “travel” (please) but they don’t ever get off the ship as they work seven days a week. He also said that the rooms they share have a bunk bed and are so small that two people cannot be standing at the same time. This just sounds like slave labor to me. I’m not blaming HAL for this and I completely understand that this is a better opportunity for the crew than what we have at home. But that also brings up my concerns about the inequities in this world between the haves and the have-nots and it’s hard to witness it continuously while on vacation.

It was also painful for me because everyone with young children at home (a very large majority of the crew) would seek me out since I had an 8 month old strapped to my chest the entire time. She is half-Asian and I’m half-Mexican so she is a little darker skinned than most of the children we saw on the ship. The crew just adored her and told me over and over how much they missed their own children. Honestly, that was heartbreaking for me. It was hard to be on this ship where tips are drastically down for the week and they are witnessing Americans at their most gluttonous. The fact that the room steward teared up over a $50 tip is telling.

I also had a hard time with getting disoriented on the ship. I have a really keen sense of direction and I spent the whole time completely disoriented. By the end of Day 2, I had a rule with myself that if I was walking confidently in any direction, I must stop turn around, and head back the other way. It actually worked for me! There were even a few times when I would stop, look at the window, go through the thought process of where the front of the ship must be located based on the water moving outside, and then happily walk to the bow when I was just trying to go back to my cabin. It was embarrassing.

Lessons learned: Fly in the night before, fly in the night before, FLY IN THE NIGHT BEFORE. Don’t fly on American or Alaska Air. And don’t expect to eat Cheerios on the Westerdam. Oh, and leave small kids at home.

Will we cruise again? My mom says no. My dad is not sure as he has over 35 days on HAL now. My sister is unsure too. I don’t know about us. I would consider a Disney Cruise when the kids are older. For now, I am fine with not seeing another airport with young kids for another two years. We will now explore the beautiful Colorado mountains around our city for a while.

Some final parting words: One of the best parts of this vacation was spending time on cruisecritic and planning it out with all of you. The HAL boards are full of some seriously nice and incredibly helpful people. I have enjoyed reading all of your trip reports and advice. I hope that this review has at least been entertaining for you. I’ll probably get flamed to high heaven as Sizzler Restaurant poster did. And I’m okay with that. I’ve moved into the final stage of grief. Acceptance.

And with that, I bid you a fond farewell and I wish you all happy sailings in the future on your beloved dam ships! Best wishes to all and a heartfelt thanks to each of you!

Epilogue: On Tuesday after we returned, my mom went out to lunch with some friends in Denver. In walks this woman who looks at her and exclaims, “oh my god, I met you on the cruise!!” It was the DW she met while on the Wildlife Quest! Small world, eh? They exchanged cards and we will be getting together for a dinner party in the near future.

[LoveThisCruisingThing]

Wow! You certainly had an adventure. You seemed to have handled it all very well and with a sense of humor. A defnite asset to have in such a situation. I hope you write to HAL about the good and bad. Did you ever find Cheerios?

[PennyAgain]

People who believe that ships will wait for them need to read your review! Well written and very entertaining, but at your expense.

[momoftoddler]

I had a great time reading your post! I know it wasn't fun for you while you were going through it, but it was definitely amusing to read. You have a good sense of humour and a nice flair for writing.

[L.A.Lady]

I don't usually post (preferring to lurk and live vicariously through others' trip reports!), but I had to 'venture out' to say that I enjoyed reading about your 'adventure' tremendously!

 

You really should consider submitting it as a short story somewhere -- perhaps a travel magazine? Your writing is so natural.

 

Here's hoping your next vacation is less noteworthy!

[celebrate20]

Oh my gosh, I so enjoyed reading your story. I know it wasnt fun, but it sure was funny reading it. I told my husband we better do some checking and rechecking of our flights. We are flying in on the same day the cruise leaves and we are flying American/Alaskin airlines. Im a little worried!!!

I would be very interested in hearing if HAL makes this up to you. They owe you a cruise!!!!

THANKS FOR SHARING!!!!!!!

[Love Boat Dream]

OMG! What a story!

 

I admire you for keeping your sense of humor throughout the entire ordeal!

[medcruiseplanner]

I agree with the others. I laughed so hard, out loud, that my husband came upstairs to find out what was going on. Your travel story is just unreal. I found myself getting short of breath because I was getting stressed out right along with you. In fact, I may need a drink after reading it. You should definitely submit it somewhere and HAL should certainly help you out in some way. I realize that you missed the ship but all the other things. . . wow. I think it was when you got to the part about not having friends to drink with because they were ladies of faith that I almost wet my pants. Of course, I also laughed at the sizzler post earlier. . .

 

Happy future travels to you!

[Alaskabound77]

Thanks to everyone for their kind words. I was hoping that you would enjoy it since everyone here knows about cruising. A lot of the humor is lost on people (friends of mine) who have never cruised.

[shootingstar07]

Fantastic, funny story. You are a natural story teller - I agree with L.A. Lady, you should publish this!! Hopefully HAL will respond with more than a bottle of champagne. At least with a box of Cheerios. Your sense of humor is wonderful. I hope all of you decide to cruise again. Thanks for sharing and making me laugh. It makes my trip cross country for my Alaska cruise in June look dull and boring!!

 

ShootingStar

[DreamTeam]

Thanks for your really well written account of your "vacation". Had to tell myself to stop laughing on a number of occasions, realizing your predicament was serious and could happen to anyone.

 

I am in no way writing this to trash HAL and take full responsibility for a lot of what went wrong.

 

Dont think there is very much at all that you need to take resposibility for.

 

We are yet to take our first ever cruise and we will remain postive :)

 

Cheers

Col & Sue

[Alaskabound77]

Thanks for your really well written account of your "vacation". Had to tell myself to stop laughing on a number of occasions, realizing your predicament was serious and could happen to anyone.

 

 

 

Dont think there is very much at all that you need to take resposibility for.

 

We are yet to take our first ever cruise and we will remain postive :)

 

Cheers

Col & Sue

 

The HAL folks are really loyal to their line and I didn't want to get 4000 replies saying "well, you should have flown in the night before." Yeah, I know - I screwed up. I just really wanted them to enjoy the humor in the trip from hell. You'll have a great time.

[maren91]

Thank you so much for the great review, I printed out all 12 pages of it! By you writing it hopefully just one person will read it and decide not to chance it and fly in a day early to avoid the dissapointment that you had.

 

That said, I have always had the philosophy while traveling to repeat to myself (sometimes multiple times)... "It's not a problem.... It's an experience!!!" I feel that you definitly had an experience!

 

Please follow-up if you get a response from HAL.

[DreamTeam]

The HAL folks are really loyal to their line and I didn't want to get 4000 replies saying "well, you should have flown in the night before." Yeah, I know - I screwed up. I just really wanted them to enjoy the humor in the trip from hell. You'll have a great time.

 

LOL

 

Thanks, yeah we will have a great time. Our first cruise and first time to Alaska. :D

 

Col & Sue

[kk-l]

Yours has to be the best review I've read on Cruise Critic!

What an experience. As I followed your tale of woe I found myself laughing and totally distressed at the same time. I too have to admire you for your ability to rise above it all and put your experience in perspective.

Travel is not as easy, nor as carefree, as it once was. We're all learning that it may be wise to leave a lot of slack just to make sure we arrive on time (although you had much more to deal with than that!!!). I decided to fly into our embarkation port city two days before our cruise just in case we ran into an airline nightmare similar to yours. We're traveling on Alaska Airlines as well...using American FF miles. That may be a stupid move on our part from what I've read here and elsewhere on the boards...no one is lower on the proverbial totem pole than a FF ticket on a partner airline.

We'll see how it goes...anytime there's a glitch during our travels I'll think of you and your Alaskan saga. Thanks again for sharing your experiences with all of us...that's what makes these boards so enjoyable.

[Alaskabound77]

Thanks to everyone for their kind words. This story can only really be appreciated by those who have cruised before (and I think I just read some statistic that only 17% of Americans have cruised). I'm glad you enjoyed it!